Influential group of 5,000 US scholars votes to boycott Israel

A powerful group of US scholars has voted to launch an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities. With a membership in the thousands, the group has become the largest academic collective to protest Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

The American Studies Association (ASA) announced Monday that its
nearly 5,000 members voted in favor of the boycott by a 2-to-1
margin on Sunday night. A total of 1,252 members voted on the
issue, with 66 percent voting ‘yes’ and 30 percent
voting ‘no.’ Three percent abstained from voting
altogether.

The boycott calls on US schools and academic research groups to
end all work with Israeli groups. It does allow individual
Israeli scholars to still attend conferences and speak at
American universities, as long as they do not do so in any
official capacity of the government.

“The resolution is in solidarity with scholars and students
deprived of their academic freedom, and it aspires to enlarge
that freedom for all, including Palestinians,” the statement
declares. It goes on to mention “Israel’s violations of
international law and UN resolutions; the documented impact of
the Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students; the
extent to which Israeli institutions of higher education are a
party to state policies that violate human rights,” among
other points.

In April, the Association for Asian American Studies voted to
enact a similar boycott, although the American Association of
University Professors has voiced its opposition to such a
measure.

The seeds for this month’s vote were laid last month at the ASA’s
annual conference in Washington, where the 20-member national
council unanimously agreed on a boycott.

“The National Council engaged and addressed questions and
concerns of the membership throughout the process,” the
statement explained.

“During the open discussion at the recent convention, members
asked us to draft a resolution that was relevant to the ASAS in
particular and so the Council final draft resolution acknowledged
that the US plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli
occupation of Palestine.”

Monday’s announcement is the latest in a line of boycotts that
may have Israeli leaders worried. Vitens, a Dutch water company,
said last week that it would cut business ties with Israel’s
national water company. Considerations of a more widespread
boycott have also been discussed throughout Europe, where Israel
has strong economic ties.

The ASA’s statement has already been called the first step toward
more boycotts from American institutions, with the Modern
Language Association saying its meeting next month will include a
discussion on academic boycotts.

The movement to single out Israel’s academic institutions has not
come without critics. Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), released a statement Monday
condemning the ASA. Foxman deemed the act a “shameful,
morally bankrupt and intellectually dishonest attack on academic
freedom.”

“Targeting Israeli institutions solely because they are in
Israel – the only democratic country in the Middle East where
scholarship and debate are encouraged and flourish – is based on
a myopic and fundamentally distorted perspective of Israel and
the conflict and is manifestly unjust,” he said. “We
commend those members of the ASA who boldly spoke out and voted
against this shameful resolution.”